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I 



COMMODUS 



AN HISTORICAL PLAY 



/ 



L E W . W A L L A C E 






L. r-^^. 






Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1S77. 

BY LEWIS WALLACE, 

In tlie Clerk's Office of the District of Indiana. 



S . R . CROCKER, I-. S (^ . , 

KOSTON. MASSAC'HrSKT'J'S. 
DKAR SIK: 

You gave me , permission to inscribe this work to you ; 
aod I do so now with grateful acknowledgment of the 
profit derived from your repeated criticisms, which were 
always most tender when you were most inexorable. 
Sincerely, your friend, 

LEW WALLACE. 

<. KAWFORDSVII-LK, IND., AfAKCH. '2. 1877. 



PERSONS REPRESENTED. 

Com MODUS, 

Maternus, • 

Cleander, Imperial Favorite. 

Antoninus, ^ 

PoMPEiANUS, > Senators. 

BURRHUS, J 

BuRBO, Chief of Gladiators. 
Marcus, Lieutenant to Maternus. 

2 ' 

Captains, ^to Maternus. 

3 f 

4 J 

I) 
Courtiers, 2 ,^ to Commodus. 

3} 
Clerk, to Cleander. 
Landlord, 

Master of Feast, a Noble Roman. 
German Envoy, 
Egyptian Representative, 
African Envoy, 
British Hostage, 
Boy, Son of Maternus. 

Wife of Maternus, 

Fadilla, Sister of Commodus, debauched by him. 

Marcia, Commodus' favorite mistress. 

Queen of FjAcchanals. 

Officers, Messengers, Cupids, Gladiators, Charioteers, 
Bacchanals, Children of Maternus, Soldiers, Amazons, Sy- 
rens, and Hebe. 

in 'JTIE masque of OLYMPUS. 

Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Mars, Mercury, Vulcan, Neptune, 
Diana, Apollo, Pluto, Venus, Cupid, Silenus, Bacchus, 
Hercules, and (janymede. 



COMMODUS 



ACT I. 

Scene I. Rome. Road in front of a cave. Wife of 
Maternus seated upon a stone, bt'eaking fax. Ojf shofiway.^ 
playing., fier voynger cJiildren, hoy aiid gii'i. Older hov talking 
with her. 

Boy. I saw my father jjass but now alone ; 
And with his hands he made as he would kill 
The very air. O, mother, what has hapt 
To stir him so ? 

Wife. How like you are to him ! 

O if the years but serve to make you such 
A man in quality, as l)rave and true, 
So arm'd with goodly nature, to the weak 
So tender, I would sj)eed them gone and come, 
Nor anything as joyful. Sit you here, 
And list you loving, I'll his story tell. 

Bo)-. {At iter feet.) I'm ready, mother, — see. 

I Fife. A pretty boy ! 

A wondrous pretty boy I And yet when ta'en 
To Rome he was a child as blue of eye 
And fair of face as you ; and e'en more full 
Of happy life. And there in fighting arts 
They train'd him perfect in his patient youth. 
Aijd tricks of sword and shield he did invent, 
And play for lordship of the helmed herds 
Then tradewise slain to sweet the hungry mobs 
Of bloody mistress Rome. The very morn 
His lagging manhood came, he stood the world's 
Admitted first in arms ; and never slave 
As rain'd with gold and glut with honors rich. 
Nor went his fortune c"er amiss till once — 



COM MODUS. 

Boy. Till once, you say? O, mother, I am hot 
To hear of that. 

Wife. Your patience, pretty one ! 

1 cannot speak of it but I must wash 

My words with tears. There, there — 'tis over now, 
And I'll go on. That day a stripling tall. 
But in the merest green of lusty youth. 
Confronted him. They fought ; and pitiful. 
Your father did but smite him with his shield — 
And only once — and — 

Boy. What ! He was not beat ? 

Wife. Nor then nor since, my boy ! Upon the sand, 
As flung from cloudy height, the lad lay stretch'd. 
Then from the climbing seats the eager herd, 
With roars of laughter, shook the theatre, 
And turn'd their thumbs up crying, Kill the wretch! 

Boy ( ), O : 

Wife. Nay, spare you, child. E'en while the 

sword 
Had aim to strike, your father heard a name 
To ear unus'd, and melted at the sound ; 
And looking, lo ! 'twas Burbo at his feet — 
His brother Burbo — 

Boy. Brother, did you say I 

Wife. The eyes with which he look'd were eyes of love. 
As sharp to see and cheatless as a god's. 
His youngest brother 'twas. 

Boy. And then what hapt? 

ll'lf. O then as erst a baby in the trough 
A-swing the roof-tree 'neath, he rais'd him up, 
And bore him out, and, outlaw'd by the act. 
Fled hither to these rocks and friendly woods ; 
From whence he turn'd his practis'd arms 'gainst Rome, 
And such as willing bore her hated yoke. * 

Fame follow'd fast, and Fortune, bringing strength 
To rave the roads, and fields, and wall-girt towns. 
And swoo^j the legions oft as haply found. 

Boy. My father is a hero. 

Wife. ' I'hat he is, 

And never more than now ; for now while here 
We talkino- sit. to crush him in his hold. 



COM MODUS. 



A Roman speeding comes with armies four, 
Our best outnumber'd by the least of them — 
I hear a step — Be still ! — 

Enter Maternus. ^^^ He takes the girl, and walks with her. 

Mat. My little, little puss ! My kitten all 
The day at play. Come play with me— But hark ! 

\Singing heard iti the distance. 
Wife. Hear I aright? They seem to come this way. 

\^Singers approach. 
Song. 
7he world goes up., the world comes down ; 

Hit or miss, win or lose ; 
Blow good or ill : sail ship or sink. 
Great Rome will have her dues. 

Of land or river, sun or air, 

Or of the sea's white foams, 
Or mould of earth, or brawn of men, 

Naught is that is not Rome's. 

Up witJi sail, 
Farewell home ; 

JVith us dance, with us sing, 
On to Rome ! 
On to Rome! 

\Tlie singers come up, and break into a dance, clashing 
castanets, tainborines and cymbals. 
Queen. {7b Maternus.) We are poor — give us some- 
thing. 

Mat. Who are you ? And what ? 
Queen. (Singing.) Up ivith sail, forward steed, 
Fa7'ewell home ; 
With us dance, with us sin^, 
On to Rome ! . 
0)1 to Rome! 
Mat. To Rome! {Thoughtfully.) Is not this from the 
gods to me? 

[ Turns away, but comes back, and drops some silver in 
the tamborinc. 



8 COMMODUS. 

Fair queen, a thousand thanks — 
Farewell. 

[Exeunt Bacchanals, singing, On to Rome. 
E?iter Soldier. 
• Mat. Tidings ? 

Sold. Niger has won, captain. Our forces fly before 
him to this our center. 
Mat. Well? 

Sold. An army closes upon us from the north ; another 
from the south ; another from the east : and from the west 
one. 

Mat. What more ? 
Sold. More I have not. 

Mat. Thanks, and get you to eat and drink : then as 
the captains come in. hid them to council here at midnight. 
Go now. 

Sold. By your grace, captain. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene III. Gaul. Interior of Cair. Maternus. 
jVL\rcus afid Captains in council. 

1 Capt. 1 think it best to fly. 

2 Capt. What, run away ! 
That will not I. There is no place for us 

To die like this; so long we've held it ours. 
1 swear "tis home. 

1 Capt. But hear. Fd sa\e our lives 
,P"or curse of Rome to come. 

3 Capt. Most idle talk ; 
Tlie job is up for us, and I will stand 
Content with one damn'd Roman soul to chum 
Me down to hell — one, may be two or three. 

4 Capt. I pray the gods— 

Marc. Ho, friends, we run to cross 

Of words and bootless heat. Let's rest debate. 
And take our captain's mind. 

3 Capt. ♦ That sounds like right. 

4 Capt. And is the right. 

2 Capt. Let's hear Maternus speak. 
All. Maternus! Speak. Maternus I Speak, and that 

You sa\' we "II do. 



COMMODUS. 9 

Mat. Friends, comrades, brothers. — It is time to be 
More wise than brave, and that way I will speak. 
Is't true we have no choice but fight or flight? 
Where's he turn'd forty years, and yet to learn 
Defeats are oft from kindly gods to whip 
Us up to greater deeds, in earnest fair 
Of richer stores reserv'd? And so I say 
They mean to serve us now. O, brothers mine ! 
Ye first who here would bide the four fold odds — 
Wherefore? Not valor's spur imperious; 
Nor voice of duty high ; but speed of death. 
From cark and care to rest your fretted souls. 
The oldest lure of cowardice in mask 
Of courage. O for love I cry you Shame! 
And will no more of it. 

2 Capt. What's that he says? 
I Capt. It was the truth — But hark ! 

Mat. To such as plead 

For flight a word. More patient than the rest, 
But not less dear to me, fling out your thoughts, 
That they may instant belt the widening world, 
And back to vouch what now I say to you. 
Between the lines afar by men unnam'd, 
Because unknown, and this no longer ours, 
There is not space where unmolested we 
Can plant our hearths anew, and be at home. 
Do not the rav'ning Roman eagles feed 
On hapless men like us, and find their prey 
In ev'ry land of eartli ? 

3 Capt. 1 had not thought 
Of that he says. 

I Capt. 'i'is so ! 

Marc. Hush, hear him through. 

Mat. Ay, give me heed, good comrades, give me heed, 
With all your senst • on the furthest verge 
Of listening ; for I \ ^11 tell you now 
What you shall do. In Rome — so runs my first- — 
The Nones of April is Cybele's day; ('^) 
When celebration climbs its highest hill. 
And all the people gladsome give themselves 
To masques and mimes and pomp, and wanton roar 



10 COMMODUS. 

The arched streets with splendid revelry, 
The rich and poor, the old and young and home 
And foreign born alike in privilege. 
Do you attend me, brethren? 

2 Capt. Never men 

More 'tentive, Captain. 

Mat. Well, what day nam'd I? 

2 Capt. The Nones of April. 

Mat. Right — you hsten well, 

My brethren. I do thank you for yourselves. 
And on with cheer. Your men are in the night's 
First slumber fresh' ning. Call them round their fires. 
And publish privily that they divide, 
And singly or in twos make way to Rome. 

Captains. To Rome! Rome, said you? 

Mat. Ay, 1 said to Rome. 

[ Tile captains rise asionisiied. 
But let not wonder loose the reins of heed, 
Good captains. Singly or in twos J bade 
Your soldiers go, first binding them to three 
Observances. They shall not tell to man 
Or woman what they are, or whence they come, 
Or whither go — that mark you number one. 
Where choice of roads is offer' d, they shall take 
The most obscure — that stamp you number two. 
The groups shall sep'rate keep; but meeting they 
Shall pass without salute of hand or tongue. 
As very strangers verging from the poles. 
Never to meet again — and this 1 give 
As number three, and last. Now tell me 1 
Am understood. 

3 Capt. Go on — The rules are plain. 

Mat. Are they so ? Then as with our men shall they 
Abide with us, of conscience holy laws. 
At Rome the day before the Nones 
Of April, look for me in wait for you 
Impatient 'neath the walls outside the old 
Flaminian gate. I will then and there 
In fullest measure tell my great design, 
x\nd give you each a part. Nor look nor ask 
For more to night ; for I have learn'd what all 



COMMODUS. 11 

There is in silence kept. The wrecks which strew 
The haunted shores of idle thought are there 
For idle words distraught. Enough that its 
Nobility when done will ring the world 
As 'twere a bell in midmost Heaven hung. 
Repeat the place appointed. 

Marc. Doubt you not; 

We have it, Captain, as you gave it us. 
At Rome you said, beneath the walls outside 
The old Flaminian gate. 

Mat. Right again 

Now to the Treasurer, and he will give 
You money for the road. Be sure you name 
A place somewhere within the citv's girt 
To meet your men — this best when in th^ir palms 
I'he coin you count. The sun at morn before 
Cybele's day should see them all in Rome 
Reported. These things done, remain there then 
The last adieux to wives and little ones. 
O ye are rugged men, my gallant chiefs! 
No harm in saying here the parting may 
Forever be. Howbe't behind you leave 
The sweet hopes sure in woman's trusting heart 
To wait on promises of quick return — 
Which here they must abide. 

Marc. Here ! Keep them loving gods ! 

Mat. And us — and us, good Marcus ! Keep they us 
In equal care ! — Come now, give hand and kiss 
In solemn pledge. The kisses witnessed 
By all the list'ning gods, FU take as oaths. 
Let each one come. 

\_They I^iss Jiini. Low music. 
My Marcus, you will stay. 
To all the rest adieu, and meeting good 
Beneath the walls of Rome. . 
^ I Capt. Fll speak for all 

Captain — stay, captain. You do give us trust 
In pledgless sort, obliging loyalty, 
'i'hough we were soulless brutes. Unask'd we swear 
You holy troth. Out, swords ! 

[ TJic captains draic and lift iticir swords. 



i2 COMMODUS. 

Swear — swear we all, 
To keep the time and place appointed us, 
Or perish on the way. 

All. We swear, we swear ! 

I Capt. Good speed, Maternus ! Life or death, we now 
Are yours to order bound, and hopeful too. 

\Exeunt all but Maternus and Marcus. 

Mat. Good Marcus. 

Marc. Captain. 

Mat. Put your hand in mine. 

\_Maternus puts a ring on Marcus' fint^er. 
Now are you my lieutenant. 

Marc. Let me kiss 

Your cheek again. 

Mat. ^- The right one 'twas before ; 

Take noAv the left. 

[He receives the Juss. 
My Marcus, trusted heir. 
And heart's first choice, with ev'ry honor goes 
A burthen. Listen. It may chance that on 
The Nones of April I may be in hell 
Or heaven. O a pity 'twere to grim^ 
The smiling earth, and melt its ribbed hills 
To running tears, if failure smite us blank 
Because of that ! So you may carry on 
In void of me, give heed, and hear what I 
Would do in Rome. Say good Cybele's day 
Has come well sped ; and there in robes and arms 
Prpetorian, '-3' as guards indifferent, 

bout the palace with the millions mix'd 
And wmey-mad, you — I— and all of ours 
Go helping pulse the pious riot on, i 

'Till comes a time — O joyous throb of time 
!Fpr us reserv'd ! — when we do turn aside. 
As called by Caesar's self to do him well. 
And kill him on his throne, amidst his court^^^ 
And dizzen'd power, if, but Fortune-bless'd, 
We find him there. 

Marc. How! What! Upon his throne — 

Kill Caesar ! 

Mat. O vou look so daz'd, 



COMMODUS. 13 

My Marcus, I could laugh did humor serve 
The time instead of grief. I'll walk until 
Your wits come back. 

Mair. Now, captain, have you more, 

I am myself. 

Mat. I have, and better too. 

To edge your interest. Think — Commodus, 
The monster, dead, and safely tomb'd away, 
And heirless, who shall have his crown 
And capital? Ay, Marcus, who but he 
With strongest hand first ready ? Why not I ? 

Marc. O, captain ! 

Mat. O me not ! But dauntless look 

Where wistful fancy points. The street before 
The palace gate is by my thousands held. 
I call them once — but once ; — as torrents freed 
By breath of summer, rave an Alpine pass. 
And thunder down the vale, they come to me — 
And Rome is mine ! Shall such a chance be lost ? 
Nay, give it me, my Marcus, give it me. 
And thine I swear the boundless profit next — 
To such degree I hold thee in my mind ! 
There now — 'tis settled — fix'd — and get thee gone 
To kiss the nestlings of thy wedded love, 
And her who brooded them, and long ere this. 
While blaz'd the night star o'er the western wall, 
Did cluck them chirj^ing under wing. 

[Exit Mate nuts. 

Marc. So, so ! 

In sooth a cloudy flight for such a bird. 
He bears himself as 't were already done. 
I have him good I P'or me the question is, 
Nor more nor less, shall I this Caesar choose ? 
Or that one royal born and Roman bred ! — 
There is i ■■ haste. Tlie thing he bade I will-- 
ril think of it. 

\Exit. 

Scene IV. Tableau. ^k'\:v:^>^Vj^ partin^^ from his 7vife 
and cliildrc)}. J\iiit()viiiu\ and i:;roup in stron^:; lii^/it. 



14 COMMODUS. 



ACT II, 



Scene I. Rome. Afite-chamber in the Imperial Palace. 
PoMPEiANUS, BuRRHUS, and Antoninus W in waiting. 

Ant. Gods ! How the hours do stretch themselves to 
such 
As wait at great men's doors, and hang upon 
Their moods expectant. 

Pomp. Hush — 1 hear them come. 

\An interior door is opened. Flourish. Armed guards 
enter., and march ricdely against the Senators. Boys 
and girls, as Cupids, follow, and shoot their arroivs 
at the Senators, who cover their faces ivith their togas. 
Next, charioteers and gladiators. Lastly, Commo- 
DUS, (^) in the costume of a charioteer, cri?nson reins 
over his shoulder, and a wliip with silken lashes and 
gilded stock in hand. 

Com. By Jupiter ! It is as I did say. 
The very snails to top of wall have climb'd, 
And cast their shells since work on it began. 
To me the lazy 'prentices ! 

\He laughs heartily. 
O rich conceit ! Their ears I'll take to pay 
Their master with ; and if he wry his face, 
I'll make him eat them raw. 

\_His following laugh 7vith him, and clap their hands. 

Ay, have them here 
When I return. Thy shoulder — lower stoop — 
A little — up now — hold you there at that. 

\JPe puts his arm over a charioteer. 
A tamer thou of horses, O, my Chroneus ! 
Not Pollux self thy better — 

Char. Caesar makes 

A bait of me. 

Com. My father Jove confound 

Me if I do ! I had the chariot 
In mind's eye still. You saw it, said you not? 



COMMODUS. 15 

Char. As I see you, my Caesar — quite as plain 
I saw it past me borne ; and my eyes blurr'd 
With looking at it. On thy stadium 
Floor they in charge did set it tenderly 
As it were precious crystal, which a breath 
Might stain incurably. 

Com. [Laug/wtg. ) O beautiful ! 

Char. Ay, Caesar, that thou art to other men 
It is to all the chariots o' the world — 
Sole incomparable. 

Co?7i. 'T was I who gave 

The workmen each detail. Whom build ye for 2 
I asked them ; and {Laughing) they affrighted said, 
For Ccesar. Then I left them marginless 
Of will their own. The pole of gnarled oak, 
From end to end with Persian pearl inlaid, 
And arched all, like neck of crooniiig swan, 
[Laughing I bade them, so they star'd me paie and wild. 
And let the axle flame with curling green 
Of malachite ; and for that I would pay 
The sun in kind, and shoot him glint for glint, 
With loyal cunning pact the wheels : the spokes 
Of silver set as furbisli'd radiates 
In silver naves : the felly s ivor\\ 
Of apses tinted like the cream from milk 
Of mares, and hoop' d in tij'es of temper\i bronze, 
To cheat an expert's eye ivith feint of gold. 
The bed a icilloiv basket leaf d witJi gold. 
Like that in ivhich the Jiaught Gerinanicus 
Did drive his happy Roman brood along 
The lusty triumph's ivay : but — stay the thought ! 
The ancients yonder — ^who — ah, now I see- 
Grave Burrhus I — Antoninus, rough of speech ! — 
And Pompeianus ! — They came not with us ? 

A Cupid. Good Cresar, no — we found them here in 
wait. 

Com. In waiting, were they ? {Laui^hing) I'heir intents 
do leaj) 
'1 o top like painted corks in water toss'd. 
They were my father's friends, and eas'd his age 
With interchange of vapid saws and quips, 



16 ■ COMMODUS. 

Given with eyes to ceiling upward roll'd, 

As watching wingless motes in airy dance, 

And haws to fetch their thoughts from darken' d depths 

Unwilling forc'd. And then {Langhing) they sitting slept, 

And nodded in their sleep, as though the speech 

From wise to wisest ran forever on. 

But they and I — Well, at them, little gods, 

And ply them sharp and fast, so they will learn 

What youth and happy childhood are — 

Ay, shoot them sharp, and laugh, and have your will, 

\Cupids renew their sport. Pompeiamis makes way to 
Cxsar, 

Pomp. Commodus!— Prince I — Good master! Hear a 
word. 
Your mighty father'^i fastest bosom friend, 
He left me in the very summer heat 
Of loving time, and, dying, bade me give 
My rest of life to you ; his will it was, 
And I did swear him so. 

Com. An old man's love ! 

\Laitghing. 
To comrade me, as well a ghost escap'd 
From deepest Dis. For songs 'twould give me sighs ; 
For laughter, groans ; and it would No when I 
The most would Yes. Hence, I say— take it hence, — 
To dogs of Isis, or my father's tomb ! 
For I do swear you now, nor old nor young, 
Only the gods shall say me. Well done this, 
My C(Bsar, or O, 01 Alack for that! 
I am the empire's self. 

Pomp. And therefore we 

Are come to you. 

Com. As censors ! Once for all, 

To lectures I'll an end. So! 

\He plies Pompeianus with the lash. Pojnpeianiis covers 
his head. Burrhus and Antoninus come forivard. 

Burr. As thou art 

That thou art — Caesar, hold ! In mercy hold 
Thy mighty hand ! 

Ant. That I such sight should see ! 

Caesar, a hundred sires in this man breathe, 



COMMODUS. 17 

And ring their urns with groans for what thou dost. 

His ev'ry hair a silver trumpet is 

To help the shrinking heavens cry you, Stay. 

Com. As easy three as one ! 

\Lashes Burrhus and Antoninus. Burrhus covers his 
head. Bystajtde^^s laugh. 

Ant. To mountains turn'd, the times do fall 
Upon and bury us. Boy, mad or drunk, 
What is't you want ? Our Uves ? Then these with swords, 
By swift dispatch, to mercy's grace can help 
You in the crime. Or if our honor 't is. 
Your will is surely sped ; one blow did all 
A thousand could. Yet strike — and strike again. 
So you do hear. I lift these war-worn hands 
Protesting, not for self, henceforth a thing 
Incapable, except to stir of some, 
Their sneers, of others, tears, as are the men 
I chamce to meet — no, Caesar, not for self. 
But country. Send and take account of those 
Who died last night of Famine here in Rome. 
And in thy following — this buzzing swarm 
Of human curses beggar-blown from all 
The vermin nests of earth — if one there be 
To weep for stranger's woes, the vulture Plague '^^ 
Invites him to the western gates to see 
How fat it feeds on suft'ring Latin folk, 
Unburied there. Caesar, I but tongue 
The sorrows of the world, and so you give 
It pity, I will kiss the hand with which 
But now you lash'd my honor out of life. 

Com. [To his train) But hear them, children. They 
are such as walk 
Through life back foremost, seeing nothing but the past. 
Observe how they distract me. 

\^Thc s^Iadiators lav hold of the Senators. 

Ant. Off!"^ Hands off, 

I say ! Strike — kill, but foul me not with touch ! 

[^A gladiator drain's to stab Jiim, hut Coinmodus catches 
his hand. 

Com. Put up the sword ! Dost hear ? Their lives are 
mine; 



15 COMMODUS. 

And what to do with them the prompting gods 

Do whisper me. Go bid the master roll 

My chariot into the stadium. 

Tell him to give the racing yoke-steeds white 

Their traced mates to run the course at side, 

With Arab leaders twain. So I'll revive 

The old Olympic feat ; and these shall take 

My Caesar's place beneath the purple shade, 

And crown me victor. Speed ! — Now bring them on. 

Will they, then gently — there. For they must know 

With mazy splendors spun from wheejs of light, 

Ablaze with envy of the sun ecHps'd, 

I'll burn their eyes till blindness come with fear 

To force them pray me, God-son, hold, enough ! 

\TJie train ^ shouting, push the Senators out. Exeunt. 

Scene II. Rome. A eorridor in t/ie Imperial Palace. 
Oleander (''^ toallzing. 

Clean. I am not longer minister of state, • 
But of my Ooesar's whims which, day and night 
More wantful growing, bay me open mouth'd 
For more and more— Ho, clerk ! 

linfer Olerk. 

Cleik. Your will, my lord. 

Clean. Give me the list. 

Clerk. 'Tis here. 

\Gives him a paper, and 7etires. 

Clean. Grow I not old 

Before I should in nature ? Puffed of eyes ? 
To wrinkles adding fat ? Youth fading out. 
By aches of sixty filch'd? As I do see 
Myself the ox in stall is not distent 
Of stomach more than I ; nor eats or drinks 
He so to deadly surfeit. In these hands 
Unsteady palsy ambush'd lies awake 
To shoot me. Death, Death ! His the couriers 
Aforetime sent to bid me. Would I that 
I live for, up, and at it, whip and spur — 
And so I will-— But soft ! 

Enter Messenger. 



COIVIMODUS. 19 

Mess. Most gracious lord 

Cleander. 

\Delivers a leicer. 
Clean. Get you gone. 

\Exit Messenger. 
I've pick'd the bones 
Of Labor white, and drawn their marrow clean ; 
Nor left in Trade enough of blood to stir 
A pulse to fluttering. 

\Hc laughs derisively. 
But yesterday 
I stript the pursy lords of Syracuse ; 
The day before I broke the merchant heart 
Of old Byzantium ; last week I skimm'd 
The cream of Asia from the golden bowls 
Of Alexandria; now I'll beggar all 
The Jews of Antioch; and not a man 
In Spain shall have v/herewith to buy an urn 
To hold his ashes. That done, Italy 
And Rome remain — Rome last. And here I have 
The names of all their rich, with what they're worth 
In Roman coin. 

\Ritns over the list. 
Ships, houses, lands — Greek, Roman, African. 
Egyptian, Jew— patrician, prince and pleb — 
All rich, and therefore guilty — What to do 
With them ? To auction this one, exile that. 
And glutton Death for all. And then the end 
In bloody brief of master Commodus — 
And I'll his game of Csesar. Happy time ! 
Already in the bearded husk I hear 
The rip'ning rattle of the golden grain. 
I'll push his follies on in madder gait — 
But what is this? 

\^Reads the letter. 
From Marcia, praying me 
To call, and of Crispina tell her more. 
The queen is in my way, but game too small 
For me to trouble with. I'll to my plan. 
And ^lay the mistress 'gainst the wanton wife, 
And wager she will win — Clerk, clerk, I say! 



20 COMMODUS. 

Re-enter Clerk. 
Clerk. I'm here, my lord. 

Clean. To mistress Marcia word, 

And say I'll come forthwith. 

Clei'k. ' 'Tis done, my lord. 

\Exit Clerk. 
Clean. If baldness come, and rheums, and odious fat 
And age in youth about my bones enflesh 
Themselves untimely — Let them. By the gods, 
I will be Caesar yet I 

YExif. 

Scene IV. A road fhroit^^h a /noun fain pass. Enter 
Maternus. Seats himself on a stone. 

Mat. Are these the hands to free the yoked world ? 
These aching feet, coarse clad, and ploughing slow 
And wearily so many leagues of dust, 
Are they at last to climb great Caesar's throne? 
The thought itself does father impulse strong 
As hands to push me on ; and I must yield 
To it (Rising) For if Trest the goodly sun 
A burning eye becomes, fix'd staring lest 
Some doom of Fate by me may thwarted be, 
And I its chosen executioner. 
Rest who can — I must on. 

[Exit. 
Enter Maternus' Wife, leading a donkey, on ivhieh 
?'ide the younger children. The oldest boy armed with a 
javelin. She seats /lerself on the rock just vacated by 
Maternus. Low music. 
Boy. I tell you, mother, we are near him now. 
Wife. I think so, O, my boy, what will he do? Yon 
know he bade me stay at home. 

Boy. He'll be glad to see us. Cheer up, cheer up, 
mother. The boy here — how he loves him ! And the 
baby — ah, let her smile once, and hold her hands to him, 
the little fingers all alive with asking, and crow him, Co7ne! 
and you'll see him laugh, and give us joy for joy. I'm not 
afraid. 

JVife. Yes, that would be, my boy, if we o'ertook him 
on the homeward wav ; but now he's for battle bound. 



COMMODUS. 21 

O, I'm afraid ! And yet I love him so ! 'Tis love that 
drives me on. Til follow him though he lead me round 
the world. {Rising) Come, let us go — Hark ! 

[^Si^iging heard. 

Boy. The dancing girls ! I know them by their song. 

Wife. O, let us hide ! 

Boy. Too late — they see us. 

\Siie resinncs her seat. 
Enter Bacchanals, singing, On to Rome. 

Queen. Softly I Children — three — a woman and a 
donkey I 

\Bacchanals sitr round the family. 

Queen. {To ivife) Tired, are you ? 

IVife. Yes. 

Queen. And hungry ? ^ 

Wife. No. My little ones may be. 
\_The bacchanals ttncover pacJzs, and bring out bread, meat 
and 7vine, and give the children. 

Queen. [Kisses the girl) I think her pretty. Eyes so 
heaven ijlue we never see in Cyprus. {To ivife) Where 
away, if you may tell? 

Wife. To Rome. 

Queen. You 1 What have you to do in Rome ? A 
woman, plain, without device or gift — your youth given 
o'er to babes — and all incapable of riot or debauch ? 

Wife. I'll find my husband there. 

Queen. O, 'tis far to follow 1 

Wife. Far indeed ; but what of that when once he's 
found ? And since the gods' last gift — this least one, with 
the eyes so blue — a soldier, he in camp has constant lived. 

Queen. O, then, there is such thing as love? 

A Bacchanal. No, no, my queen! Believe it not. 
The earth is but an egg of Death, with Rome for hatching 
bird. True love, as you will find, has gone to salt the sea, 
and blue the sky. 

Queen. Why, 'tis this woman's life — (xood mother, we 
are bound as you. With us make the stages; and we will 
share with you, and give you help ; and all for love of 
your love. 

Wife. 1 must travel slow, for sake of these. 

Queen. Hie little ones ? Well, we will have a care of 



22 COMMODUS. 

you, and wait at times to see how get you on. 

Wife. I have but thanks to give, and tongue to pray 
the gods for you. 

Qiieen. Then you would pay us rich in unaccustomed 
coin. For the time, mother, good-bye — Come, up, my 
island-born ! Up, and sing for cheer; and let's away. 

\Exeunt bacchanals , singing, On to Rome. 

Wife. My heart beats fast, and I am faint. A dread- 
ful enemy is Rome. O, my darHngs ! We must break 
our rest. If once the city swallow him, we ne'er shall see 
him more. Come on. 

\Exeunt. Curtain drops. 

Scene V. A chamber in the Palace. 

Enter Cleandkr and Marcia.^^) 
Clean. How! *What! A woman thou of Roman blood 
Unknowing jealousy ! Why, 'tis a snake, 
A fanged snake, coiled sleepless in its slime 
Of jellied green ; and whoso treads it once. 
Though zeph'rus light, must ruthless tread again. 
And quick, or ruthless die. 

Mar. How, good my lord ? 

I'm very dull ; be plain ; unmask to me, 
In mercy. 

Clean. Out, I say I Nor chicken me I 
Yet if thou wilt, Crispina scans 
Thee evil-eyed ; so all our Italy 
Shuddering cries, Wake, Marcia, strike for us. 
And save thyself. 

Ma?: Yes, yes! If only she 

Be good, a wife keeps Heaven's gate to let 
Her husband in — 

Clean. But saying he be bad ? 

Mar. Then she is worse of being good — 
My lord, a betfer wife had made for us 
A better Caesar. To thy shrewdness now— 
Of Jove's great curses kept for special plague 
Of Roman kind, describe me that the last 
And certain deadliest. 

Clean. O, Drunkenness. 

Mar. No. 



COMMODUS. 23 

Clean. Avarice. 

Mar. No. 

Clean. No ? Ambition then. 

Mar. Nor yet, my lord. Almost I think a man 
Would never guess it. 

Clean. Hold ! Most excellent 

Fair Marcia, I am not Oleander more, 
Bewray thee not thy face. Nor shake thy head — 
'Tis Woman. 

Mar. Thou hast missed by bare a shade. 

Clean. O of thy grace again — Now wears the curse 
A personality ; wherein most like 
A breathing radiancy corporate 
In vesture of the morning light, it thinks. 
And has a being, and goes about pursued 
By noble souls, and hearkening them call 
Its name — Crispina. 

Mar. Yes — 

\_Slie draws nearer him. 
0-good my lord! 
Admit to me thy hopes in darkness kept. 
O open noble heart, and take me in ; 
And I will be another secret there, 
As still as any, yet with senses armed 
To haste conclusions. 

Clean. No, no — nothing more 

To me remains — 1 — Marcia, I have clomb 
The last stej) — 

Mar. Last but one ! 

\_She puts her arm upon his sJunilder. 
There is a man 
For whom the world tiptoe impatient waits. 
A Phrygian humbly born, the kindly Fates, 
With high intent, brought him a boy to Rome, 
And in the palace yoked him with the heir 
Imperial ; and there in brotherhood 
They grew so like and like, the shrewest might 
Not tell the first in wit or qualities 
Of men in youth. At last the slave a need 
Of life became ; so much that, wanting him, 
Young Ciesar wanted eves, and ears and hands, 



24 COMMODUS. 

Nor was his perfect self. A teacher thus, 
He too was equal taught ; acquiring how 
To govern men, which once attained does stir 
The gods to jealousy, such knowledge 'tis. 
Oleander, thou art he of whom I speak — 
The prmce for whom — 

Clean. Hush ! Go to ! That you are 

A pretty maudler might not plea you o'er 
The charge of treason — Hush I 

Mar. Nay, wilt thou hear. 

The gods do speak by me, and bid you up 
From humble dreams too long in thrall indulged — 
Up — up, and on the earth lay hands 
Of mastery ; — and then — I — 

Clean. AVell — and thou ? 

[//c puts his arm about Iter. 

Mar. We, we, — prince — Oaesar ! O as shine the sun 
And moon wil! we, my lesser light in thine ! 
Or like not that, my lord, then thou shalt be 
My flower o' men, and I a butterfly 
To live upon thy sweets. Thy unthouglit wish 
For slave shalt have me. Of thy hand I'll be 
As facile fingers jewelled. 
To gladsome answer ev'ry pulse of heart. 
Or thou shall say when I can help thee best, 
And point the mode, by labor, life or death 
Indifferent. 

Clean. And if the need were now ? 

Mar. O very, very blind I I'll help thee now. 

^ _^ \I-Ie kisses her. 

Clean. Strange, my Marcia, how thy beauty grows. 
And draws me. True, thou wert a star 
With five clear rays ; but now a sixth begins 
To dawn ; and grow thou thus, the sky must be 
Enlarged anew to hold thy flood of light. 

\He kisses her passionately. 
Tell me but this — Is 't perfect treaty now. 
That we to end go on, the two as one ? 

Mar. As ship and shadow go ; and thou the ship. 

Clean. A dainty hand, and small, to have such power 
Of help to dizzy height; and qualitied 



COMMODUS. 25 

Divinely, that by speechless tenderness, 
And signs not more than writing on the air, 
The ruffled feathers ot suspicion it 
Can instant lay, and even cast a man 
In sleep of health profound to deeper sleep, 
Which health not needs, nor any vanity — 
Not even empire. Runs the treaty so, 
My Marcia? 

Ma7\ So, my lord, and nothing lacks 

But oaths exchanged. 

Clean. Oaths ! The love which needs 

An oath to keep it true, but taints the oath 
In taking. O enough ! My soul awakes ! 
I'll dare the other step; and coward men 
To fighting gods shall turn them, or we'll rule 
This Roman world — I first of crowned men. 
And thou of women first — 'Tis said and sealed — 
And now, my fair, a kiss — and then a kiss — 
Then off to think what we must do to bring 
Our wedded hopes to har])or. 

Mar. Good, good-bye ! 

Clean. My queen ! 

Mar. My Caesar! 

\TIiey emh7\2ce. Exit Cleander. 
Gods ! I loathe a man 
Of sweaty baldness, fat to eye and touch ; 
Whose love in heat of making cannot take 
A sweet 

From power or greatness more than lilly's juice. 
The throne with him, the o'er-fed Phrygian beast ! 
I'd sooner house me in a vulture's nest. 
And feed on poisoned dogs-- And yet without 
His help I could not move mine enemy ; 
But now 'tis done ; now can I cry 
Exultant, Room, Crispin a, room for mc ! 
O I do owe him m«ch, and more that he 
Was won so cheap — Live, live great Commodus ! 
Live thou my king of kings^— Mars, Hercules, 
Apollo, all in one — and reign ! 
But die Cris])ina — die Cleander too! 

VExit. Curtain falls. 



20 COMMODUS. 



ACT III. 

Scene I. A Village Street and Inn. Porch of hin pro- 
jecting into street, but screened from it by lattice-work in 
front. 

Enter Maternus. 

Mat. Lo, here ! 

Enter Landlord. 

Land. Your servant, please you. 

Mat. I am tired, hungry, thirsty — -What have you ? 

Land. Only the poorest, your goodness. I had plenty — 
to-day three weeks ago — I think it was three weeks — my 
poor head, I lost it, and it is hardly come back yet — a 
band of robbers — they said they belonged to the great 
Maternus, your goodness — 

Mat. I am a plain mechanic, friend, bound to Rome for 
work and better fortune. 

Land. No harm meant. O, no I As I was saying — 
my poor head, it goes and comes so I — To-day three weeks 
ago — I think that was the time — a band of robbers cleaned 
our village end to end. They carried the inside of every 
house into the streets. You should have seen what all they 
did! 

Mat. But I am hungry. 

Land. Pardon, excellency — I was about to say the 
thieves left me nothing but oatmeal and milk. 

Mat. Bring them — and haste. 

Land. Yes, yes ! — Pardon again — What's that ? More 

custom, and nothing but oatmeal and milk. Alack, alack ! 

\The Bacchanals enter the street singing. Villagers pour 

in from all sides. The Bacchanals dance. Landlord 

runs out, but returns in haste. 

A travelling show, your goodness. 
Take seat. PU order for you. 

\^He puts his head through a door, and calls for meal and 
milk. Maternus takes seat on a bench. While the 
dance proceeds, the food is brouglit, and he eats. Di- 



COMMODUS. 27 

7'ectly his wife and childn^i appear, and come to the 
porch unseen by him. Wife speaks to landlord, who 
is looking at the dance. 
Wife. Tell me the way to Rome, an' you please. 
Land. Go down this to the first crossing, and turn to 
the right. 

Wife. 1 thank you for a good man. 
\She moves on as directed, and disappears. Queen of 
Bacchanals co77ies to porch. 
Queen. (To landlord) Sleek and fat! Of your plenty, 
help us on our way. 

Land. Your fairness, I have nothing. To-day three 
weeks ago —1 think — 

Queen. Nothing! You lie, as only a landlord can. 

[^She goes to Maternus. 
Are you of the road ? 
Mat. Yes. 
Queen. Then of you nothing. 

\^She turns away, but comes back. 
Mercy ! I forgot. 
A mother, poor, but good, and weary worn 
With travel all afoot, now passed by, 
With three fair children, bound to Rome to find 
Her husband, there a soldier. If of store 
You have to spare, a little give for her 
And them ; or if, like us, you have but small, 
A very, very little then will do — 
O bare enough to buy a crust to feed 
Three sparrows ! —No ! Ah, friend, had you a wife 
To follow all your marching round the world; — 
A babe to toss its tiny arms about. 

And cry your name— sweet, blu^-eyed — cheeks with blood 
Of roses painted ; - a boy to lift your spear, 
And swear there ne'er was soldier like to you, 
Nor any man so brave !— For such I beg. 

Mat. {Affected) AVilt thou indeed rememl:)er them ? 
Queen. I swear it -by the Holy Crods. 
Mat. (L^isino) The Northman's hand is hard ; not so 
his heart— Take this. 

[Ife gi7'es a handful of silver, and moves away. 
Queen. {Looking after him) A man to make a hero — 



28 - COMMODUS. 

although there was a tear upon his cheek. 

\Cnrtain falls. 

Scene II. Rome. Coriidorin Palace. 
Enter Oleander. 

Clean. The Senate's mine. {Laughing) A jest it was 
to burst 
Silenus ! E'n where TuUy silver-voiced, 
A butcher bloody-handed I did squat, 
And in great Caesar's seat, a hostler loud 
With noisome stable smells. And now what wants 
My preparation more ? There ne'er was hand 
Of help as Marcia's dextrous; never brain 
Of woman wiser to control the hand, 
And put suggestion into coinage of 
Perfected deed. Now give me but the ])roud 
Praetorian Praefecture, that I may hold 
The legions come or go, adjudged by need 
Of policy, and I'll the riot loose ; 
And since I cannot trust another man, 
The place I'll take myself; first scaling it, 
That men demur not, saying, He did climb 
To it univorthy. 

\_Enter Cupid, and gives Jiini a note. 
Here, thou little chick ! 
Kiss thou me, then to Commodus return, 
And say I love to serve him. 

Cupid. ( ) thou good — 

Thou best of men ! 

S^Kisses him, and exit. 

Clean. And now what ? Some device 

Of villainy, I know. * 

\_ffe reads the note. 

Commodus to Oleander. — /;/ dispute with me to-day- my 
Burbo said, that of all nations a Gaul dies ivith the inost in- 
dijference ; a Briton next ; a Moor next ; then an Assyrian ; 
and then a Roman — the Roman last of all. And I did 
wager him for Roman sake ; and to decide the wager, and 
prove him false, I have designed a feast of richness to make 
beggar-lunches of JVero's dinners. The ambassadors of all 



COMMODUS. 29 

the nations, and the hostages, will he guests. To-night in the 
Augustan Hall. Come thou. Commodus. 

Clean. I held myself 

In arms against surprise or terror proof; 
But now from Hell a prompter comes to fuse 
My Caesar full of horrid Plutonism. 
How sweetly, aired about with innocence, 
He prattles of the thing, and calls it Feast. 
And so 't will be, and nothing like it half 
So utter splendid ever seen before 
In time of any man ; yet I do know. 
From knowing him, that they who take them there. 
And careless eat and drink, sit down to death, 
With question mere — 

What sparkling wine or savored dish shall serve 
Their taking off? For me, I'll none of it. 
I'm sick — with love of life, and will to bed, 
With foot-bath first, and medic napkin fit 
For sudden colic— There, the sun is down. 
And they are at it now — I'm very sick. 

\_Exit Cleander. 
Entei' Commodus, as a Roman girl, his hand resting o?t 
BuRBo's left shoulder. 

Com. Burbo, the messenger should be here — Ah, he 
comes ! 

Enter Messenger, and kneels. 

Mess. The last course is finished. The guests clamor 
for C^sar. 

Com. W^hat dish liked they best? 

Mess. The ragout of Verus. ^^^ 

Co7n. Sow's belly, flesh of pheasant, wings of peacock, 
tenderloin of wild boar — in a pie. 

Burl). Diet good for death. 

Com. {Laughing) Excellent, my Burbo! {To Mes- 
senger) Return thou, and report me coming. 

[^Exit Messenger. 
I think 
my hair disclaims the fillet, and falls disordered. It must 
be seen to. Let us hence. 

\^Exeunt, 



30 COMMODUS. 

Scene V. A Hall of State. Guests at table, i^eclining. 
A dais, canopied, and with curtains of Tyrian purple. 
Gorgeous symposium on dais. Music. 

Enter two officers bearing, one a lionh skin, the other a 
Hercules club. They post themselves on each side the dais. 

Officers. C^sar comes ! {Guests arise.) 
Enter a score of little girls as Cupids ; after them Com- 
modus, as a -girl, and leaning on Burbo. Commodus 
ascends the dais, and reclines upon the symposium, rest- 
ing on his left arm. The Cupids group themselves 
about him. 

Master of Feast. 
Salute we our host ! 

\^FloiirisJi of music. 
German Envoy. 
From lands of Gaul and Goth — Hail, and health, Caesar ! 
[ The Envoy, and all the German hostages bow. 

Egyptian Representativk. 
Hail, Master of the World! The children of the Nile 
kiss thy feet. 

\The Egyptians salaam. •^"'' 
African Envoy. 
From the Desert a voice — Hail, Hero of Heroes ! 
Forever live ! 

\Salaam from him, and flic Ethiopian hostages. 
British Hostage. 
The Free-born of the Isles of the Sea, beyond the Pillars 
of the West — O, Caesar, health, and 'twixt thee and the 
unconquered kings, our fathers, peace ! 

\The British hostages bow. 

Master of Feast. 
Finally, for her who alone is great — our mother, Rome, 
the Universal— I salute you, Caesar ! 

[^Elourish of music. 
Com. (Aside) Take back the wager, Burbo. 
Burb. {Aside) Look you, I came to see them die. Hoc 
habef. m> 



COMMODUS. 31 

\Turns his thumb up in sign of death. 

Com, [To guests) I am most happy in your salutations, 

and will return them as becomes me — Ho, bring me wine ! 

[A cup-beare?^, as Hebe, brings a golden pitcher, and kneels 

before him. Other servants enter, and set goblets before 

the guests. 

Com. {To Hebe) For me — then the gentles. 

[^She pours for each one. 
Co?n. [Aside) Drink not, my Burbo. 
Burb. (Aside) Fearest thou ? 
Com. (Aside) For myself? 
Bitrb. (Aside) Ay, my Csesar. 

Com. (Aside and laughing) When thou dost find thy 
sword with temper lost from simple wearing, then mayest 
thou look to find my blood disproof 'gainst treachery. 
Peace I They wait. 

\_He rises upon his arm, and holds his goblet up. 
My Lords and Princes 
Of the Far and Near ! 

Mast, of Feast. Peace — Hear ! The mighty Caesar 
hath to say ! 

Com. I drink to all the worshipped Gods of men — 
Those here and there — the Little with the Great, 
However named ; and to the Unknown Good 
And Unknown Bad in equal honor each; 
And who shall spare his cup to such a health ? 

\_Master of the Feast hesitates. Commodus addresses him. 
Art thou a Roman ? Drink ! 

\All drink. Master of the Feast drops in his seat. 
Burb. (Aside) See thy Roman ! 
Com. (Aside) He is wiser than the rest. 
Burb. (Aside) His heart fails — I win ! 
Com. (Aside) Nay, the end is not yet. (To guests) Sit 
now ; and while the richness of which you have partaken 
proves itself, I will give you entertainment. Afterwards 
we will drink again. (To attendants) Music first. 

\Harpers come and play. Va^'ious performances follow, 
such as juggling, wrestling, trapezia. 
Com. ( Upon the concluding performance) Now the Cory- 
bantes. (i~) (To attendants) Let my children come. (Aside 
to Burbo) 'Tis time the wine should stir them. 



32 COMMODUS. 

\Enter a score of gladiators, with shields, and armed, 
and in full armor, as for the aj-ena. With them 
cymbalists, di^imimers and trumpeters. The gladiators 
foiin and dance ; slowly at first, finally with the utmost 
fury, the music increasing time and fofxe to the end. 
As dance progresses, the poison manifests itself. 
Com. ( Upon conclusion of dance) Bring the wine again. 
\Cup-bearer re-appears, and serves the goblets. 
Commodus rises to his feet. 
Once more, my gentles — a health to you and— Death ! 

SfThe Roman and the Gej'mans keep their 
seats. The other guests rise alarjned. A 
few lift their cicps. 
Burb. (Aside) Lo ! thy Roman again. 
Co?n. (Aside) Lo ! thy Gauls. (To quests) Give ear, 
Princes and Lords. 

\TJicy suppress their groans and gaze at liin:. 
You have drunk that 
Men cannot drink and live. You are about 
To die. 

[ Those risen sink doian half fainting. 
What — fear ? Are you of common soul 
To be so overcome ? Bethink you of 
The lands you represent — and of the fame 
Of courage — and the glory they do win 
Who smile heroic in the face of Death. 
Or fearful yet, recall the honor which 
Attends your going — I am here ! 

\They break frorn their places, and rush wildly about, 
seeking . escape. Some fall and die. The Britons, 
the Germans, and the Master of the Feast sit still, and 
gaze steadfastly at Commodus. The German Envoy 
rises. 
Geiinan Envoy. Men of the North, ho ! List a word 
from me ! 
The cup yon Roman monster offered us, 
With gloze of honor to our viking gods, 
We drank and are to die, and dying make 
Him merry with our fears. No Druid wood 
Is hereabout to catch our ghosts when they 
Shall parting fly ; nor may a harping skalde, 



COMMODUS, SS 

With crash of cloudy battle, din us deaf, 
Or gently bear us up to look on life 
As soaring eagles on the crawling sea, 
That we may laugh, and careless bid it bye, 
As phrenzied warriors do ; yet are we 
To be afraid ? who were not fed on milk 
Of bleating ewes ? or timid dropt from nests 
Of cooing doves ? whose sires do tireless run 
The roughened ways which lead to halls where Death 
Abides as bidden guest, than wife or friend, 
Or sleep or rest, or any joy of men 
On earth more welcome ? Not in vain the Goth 
And Gaul and blue-eyed wanderers from far 
Sclavonic wilds our snow-lands loving crowd. 
'Tis Odin draws them where the makers three 
Of man may make again ; this time a race 
'to gird the pliant Earth, and plough it deep, 
And burn it maiden clean, as farmers sent 
To sow perfection. Masterful to break 
And change at will — here, pull down, there set up — 
And in the wasted gardens of the Old 
To plant the New, they restless come, 
Through battle led, — come bringing each 
The hammer and the hammer-hand of Thor, 
By which the world shall know them. Then shall we 
Avenged be, and merry make in turn. 
Nor long the waiting - scarce a winter night. 
E'en now the ravens black the Medgard sky, 
Home hurtling swift to tell of them in sight, 
And at the Father's feet the sleeping wolves 
Do whimpering dream them nigh. So let us rise, 
And fearless laugh and drink this second cup. 
As we were warriors at victorious feast, 
And it were healthful mead of brewage fresh, 
By happy housevv^ife poured — The Coming Race 
And Vengeance ! Drink we all ! 

[T/ie Northmen rise and lift their ciips. 
BritisJi Hostage. Hold ! Stay the cup awhile ! 
One day a' ship to Angle shore drew out 
The seaward of the East— with pillared prow. 
And l)eak like tusk of boar, and mighty banks 



rf4 COM MOD US. 

Of oaken oars — from out the East she sailed, 

And to an Angle King on British shore 

Did land a Saxon bride ; and after her 

Came other brides. And since that happy day, 

In Glory's sounding looms of pain and toil, 

From whence the race heroic is to come, 

O Northmen, yours and ours have constant woofed 

And constant warped, until, though island born, 

We are from you in separate. 

And now to make Death welcome as a bride, 

A Saxon bride, with thrice a woman's love, 

Your Future, golden-gated, open wide, 

That we alike may share your lordly Hope. 

A cry there is which fits no tongue but ours. 

Together let us cheer — together drink — 

And then together die. Together all — 

Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 

\They clash their goblets^ Hurrahing. 
The promised Perfect Man — the Woden-kissed 
And British-cradled— Ho, a cheer for him ! 

\lliey hitrraJi. 
For Death a cheer! 

\TJ ley give it. 

But Rome — to Rome our curse 
And — goblets ! 

\He thrown his goblet at Coiiuiwdus. The others do the 
same, and exhausted die. 
Mast, of Feast. ('^' Caesar, hear ! 
A Roman, taught by Romans, knows to die 
Without or fear or passion. So will I 
My farewell take of earth. 

\He lifts his goblet. 
These fallen ones 
Were guests of Rome. If some there were more full 
Of trust, none, none so helpless ; wherefore none 
So sacred. Not to pity were a crime ; 
To slay them drinking to our Roman gods, 
And of their dying make a Roman jest, 
Must leave us damned and godless. I will drifik, 
Most guilty Roman — drink, and hide my shame. 

\^He drinks, sits, dra.ws his toga over his Jiead, and dies. 



COMMODUS. 35 

Btirh, My Caesar, I have won. 

Com. No, I have won. 

Burh. My men their goblets at you flung. 

Ciwi. Ay, but my Roman without passion died. 

\Curtain drops. 



ACT IV. 

Scene 1. Road throiigJi a Rocky Pass. A spring at one 
side. 

Enter Bacchanals, 7vho cross carelessly singing.^ On to 
Rome. After them Maternus, Iiis wife and childre?i, 
boy leading donkey. The wife and children stop to drink. 
Maternus, while waiting, comes forward.. 

Mat. A faithful heart, to follow me so far ! 
And yet I wish her home — Home ! What have I 
To call by such a holy name ? 
The hollows of the ground, the jungle depths, 
The wilds where hunters stalk their prey in fear, 
There only can Maternus rear a roof, 
And hiding, 'drink the offered cup of love. 
But off — away with plaint ! The Alpine hills 
Are left behind, and this is Italy ! 
Good Mother of the Earth ! Take thanks for care — 
Thanks now — but when the mistress Rome is mine — 
Mine her state, people, power — then of some 
Tall mountain, purple veiled and summer crowned. 
An altar I will make, and offer thee 
The rackings of her robber life sword-reaped 
Pitiless through the blood red centuries. 
Nor dreams the tyrant of the doom I bring. 
O comrades brave ! The flying moments draw 



36 COMMODUS. 

Us nearer, nearer to our templed goal ; 

And on the thousand ways by which ye come, 

In valley's depth, through city's crowded heart, 

By wooded shores of southward running streams, 

Nearer, clearer comes your soldier tramp. 

Not needing beat of drum to tell me where 

And what ye are ; and over space I stretch 

My eager arms in yearning for the glad 

Salute which is to make us one again- — 

O good Cybele ! Mother 1--Fail us not, 

Nor let us fail ! 

[ Wife comes to his side, and rests her hand up07i his arm. 
Ah, love, in wait were you 
On idle dreams of mine ? Well, let us on. 
A rest, a long, long rest awaits us 'neath 
The walls of Rome— Sweetheart, had you your will, 
What would you? 

Wife. O, my arms around you thus, 

And home again. 

Mat. Not if you knew we went 

To changed fortune ? 

Wife. That is what I dread, 

d husband, though I sung it sweet as bird 
Sweet singing to its mate, and kissed you oft, 
And oft again, yet never would you come 
To know that love for love in holy kind 
Is all of fortune simple woman wants ; 
And constant give her that, and charige is what 
She constant prays against. 

Mat. 1 know it v/ell : 

But then the cave was cold for us and ours ; 
And colder still the clime ; and to a land 
Of roses now we come, where summer bides 
In purple tents, or dreamful lies asleep 
On sunny hills, VN^hile, blushing in their gold. 
The swelling berries turn to amber wine. 
Give me your eyes — this way — there — call you that 
A changeling's kiss ? O, in the city's heart. 
Fixed centre of the world, there is a house. 
Marble out and marble in, where none 
But master kings have dwelt and merry made : 



COMMODUS. 37 

And all its pillared gates and sculptured doors 

Ajar do waiting stand for you and me, 

And these, our weary, weary little ones ; 

And we will enter in, and be at rest, 

And call it ours, and with the great be great, 

Yet happy each in other — Let us on — 

Hear you there? Forward,, boy ; and sing for cheer. 

And we will follow fast. 

\Exeiint. Boy singing, On to Rome. 

Scene II. llie country palace at Laurenttim.^^^^ A 
Hall regally furnished. Coniniodiis reclining upon a 
couch. About him., in close groups., little gifis as Cupids., 
and women as Syrens, the latter waving fans. Low 
music. 

Com. How soft the air ! A feather dropt would plunge 
It like a stone. And heavy 't is with rich 
Narcosis. Hardly know I if I wake. 
My senses dulling close like lilies which 
Will not the stars should see where they were kissed 
By smiling sun-^'^fo Marcia, one of you, 
And bring me word if yet her play be set. 
And speed you ! To perfect the fancy she 
Has had her will, and time, and artists deft, 
With right to make me poor, lest she should want 
The least or greatest thing, I burn to see 
What she has wrought. The lazy meanwhile fill 
With lulling sounds— Nay, sound is minister 
To sleep, now out of time — 
And bring me wme in cup of crystal poured — 
Not that from frosty vinelands of the North ; 
But blood of blue-black clusters ripened quick 
On x4^>tna's lava-lips. 

Enter Oleander. 

Clean. My Caesar, hail and health ! 
You sent for me, and I from Rome have come 
To prove my love anew. 

\He hieels by the couch. 

Com. A trifle — nigh forgot. It was — Perpol ! 
I cannot call it now, for I am numb 



38 COMMODUS. 

With leaden sleep. 

Clean. The property of babes^ 

And happy men with minds as innocent — 
A word of news, and I'll to Rome again. 

Com. The briefest word, if you are witted well. 

Clean. The queen Crispina (^^^ is not true. 

Coin. {^Sitting 2ip) Be plain. 

Clean. She has a lover. 

Coin. Nothing more ? 

\^Laughhig. 
You fluttered me. 

Clean. Thy Burbo — 

Com. Ah, the drowse 

Returns again ! To Capri with the queen. 
Send Burbo hither. He is still a prince 
Of mighty men. Fll make him chief of guard — 
How goes the rabble ? 

Clean. ■ They do charge the day 

With direful threats ; of nights they post the walls 
From cope to base, until the dead stones stand 
And preach alive with tongues. 

Com. Draw they to head ? 

Clean. Ay, Csesar, insomuch 
That I will take the chiefest place on which 
Thy safety most depends ; for trust thou me, 
I know to trust myself. 

\^He produces a tablet, and gives it to Coinmodiis. 
It needs your hand. 

Com. Some other time — not now. 

Clean. __ The need is great; 

And saying sooth, I wish to make an end 
To mobs in Rome. This one I'll tread in mire 
Of blood so deep, f will ne'er take root again. 

Com. My stylus then. 

Clean. . Nay, Csesar, take thou mine. 

[ Commodus signs, and f^ives the tablet to Ckander. 

Com. Now thou art 

The chief Praetorian, and next to me. 
Return to Rome, and watch that business come 
Not here to plague me- Stay ! Will not the Hfe 
At Capri lonesome l)e ? 



COMMODUS. 39 

\Cleander kisses his hand. 
Clean. It would to me, 

My Caesar. 

Com. Let the Parcae cut it short. 
Now for sleep — Begone. 

\Exit Cleandei'. 
Enter cup-bearer^ as Hebe., ivith wine and a crystal cup. 
She pours for him. Enter a Courtier. 
Cou7iier. [Kneeling) A message from Marcia. The 
play is ready. Thy will, O Caesar ! 

Com. (Risijig) I will come. Greet her for me. 

l^lVhile he drinks, curtain falls. 

Scene III. The Masque of Olympus. 

1. Darkness as a thick cloud. Thunder. 

2. Light penetrating the cloud, and slowly dissolving it. 

3. Dimly seen at first, but finally the center of a most 
brilliant light, Jupiter upon his throne, with Juno. 

4. Overhead an atmosphere in which faintest spangles 
appearing and disappearing give the idea of motion and 
purity 

5. Trees and shrubbery grown and growing. Flowers 
swelling in bud, and bursting into bloom. Flitting birds. 
Butterflies at work. 

6. From the rocks and trees nymphs appear, and pose 
themselves in attitudes of rest and watchfulness. 

7. Caves, grottoes, cascades. 

8. Everything in transformation constant and briUiant. 
a Enter Minerva from the right. Mars from the left. 

I) Enter Mercury and Vulcan. 
c Enter Neptune. 
d Enter Diana. 
e Enter Apolld. 
/ Enter Pluto. 
if Enter Venus, leading Cupid. 

h Enter Silenus, leading Bacchus, the latter with 
grapes and fresh grapevines, and reeling drunk. 

9. A table of gold, covered with bowls and chalices of 
gold, rises from the floor. 

/ Enter Commodus and Hkrcitles, from opposite sides. 



40 COMMODUS. 

/ Enter Ganymede, with a tall golden pitcher on his 
shoulder. 

lo. The gods and goddesses collect about the table, and 
are served from the pitcher. 

Jicpiter. Stay ! Let the nectar stand. Again the Earth 
A hero has for old Olympus fit. 
Advance, thou noblest of a thousand years ! — 
Advance, and 'claim thy godship. 

\Commodus kneels before Jupiter, who continues — 
Take thou high 
Divinity. Hermecrates — rise ! 

\_ Jupiter touches him with his scepter. Co?m?todus rises. 
Gods and Goddesses salute him. Hercules throws his 
lion's skin over Commodus' shoulders. Mercury gives 
him his caduceus. Ganymede puts a cup in his hand., 
and fills it. 
Jupiter. (To Commodus) O, Hermecrates! eat and 
drink, and earth and earthly life forget. 

All the Gods. Conqueror of gladiators— Hail, and wel- 
come ! 

[Curtain drops. 



ACT V. 

Scene I. A nook under the Walls of Rome. Marcus 
and other Captains seated. 

Enter Maternus. 
Mat. Hail, comrades ! Hail, and hearty cheer to each 
And all of you ! 

\Thev rise, and press him with their g?'eetings. 
The morn before the Nones 
Of April this ; and there, the trysting gate 
Of old Flaminius. Thanks each to each, 
And to Cybele thanks and solemn vows — 
And now, my brothers — such you are in faith 



COMMODUS. 41 

As well as Fortune — unto other time, 
The day of golden leisure, let us pass 
All mention of the road, nor think of else 
Than that which waits us clamoring — 
Speak we our soldiers first — 

Marc. They swarm the streets 

By thousands. 

Mat. O, for that with us they broke 
Our crust of sorrow, now to blazoned 
Lordships will I them! — Marcus, they should have 
The time and meeting place. 

Marc. And so they have. 

Mat. And arms and uniforms ? 

Marc. To cellars named they'll come for them to-night. 

Mat. Have they the word ? 

Marc. Aye, Captain, every part 

Is done you gave to me. 

Mat- A good right hand 

Art thou, my Marcus. I do rest on thee 
As on myself. They smiled, I think you said ? 
Was that their spirit ? Did their faces flush ? 
Spoke they quick, sharp ? and when they took your hand, 
Thought you if closed their fingers thus — and thus — 
As itching for the sword ? You know there are 
Who dash you with their doubts, and crawling go 
To tasks heroic. I do like them not ; 
For look you all, my brethren, they have want 
Of fixed mind; and in the urgent heat 
Of action ; when the winging chances all 
The fiercer fan their craven cheeks. 
And comes the crisis with its thunder clap. 
They stop to think, and with themselves debate ; 
And then the gods do hiss, and slip their dooms. 
And shoot them swift into the weakling's hell. 

Marc. 1 judged them good of spirit. 

Mat. Stay they so, 

My captains, then will We a deed to sound 
All Wonder's brassy pipes — But part we now. 
To-morrow we may stay, and talk in groups, 
As suits us whimsical ; but not to-day. 
The sharpest eyes of Rome are in her gates — 



42 COMMODUS. 

To each and all, good-night. 

I Capt. One word before we go. A Csesar there 
Must always be. Will not Maternus do ? 

Captains. Why not? 

I Capt. Say you so? 
Let's give him hands on it. 

Captains. Ay, every hand ! 

Live Maternus ! 

\All but Marais give Imn tiieir hands ^ with speeches such 
as, We arc with you — Count on us. 

Mat. {To Marcus) Thy hand came not to me. 
I felt the want of it — Again, good rest. 

\_Exeunt all but Marcus. 

Marc. I saw, when with my hand he played, 
Suspicion in his eyes. How he has grown ! 
The other day he was not more than I — 
To brush the mighty Caesar from his throne 
Were Caesar's self to be— I'll watch a time 
To loose the feathers in his wing. 

[Exit 

Scene IL Rome. Chamber in the Palace. Comjnodus 
upon a couch playing with children. Courtiers in attend- 
ance. Noise of a battle heard at inteii^als. 

1 Courtier. Gods ! How the tumult deepens at the 

gate ! 

2 Court. 'Tis bloody war. '^'') 

3 Court. But see ! There lies he calm 
As in the universe such dreadful thing 

As danger was not. Do but hear how shrill 
And merry-voiced his Cupids laugh and shout. 

[ Uproar without. 
Great Jupiter ! 

1 Court. He calls— Hist ! I'll attend. 

\He goes to Coninwdus and kneels. 
Com. [To Courticj-) * I think I heard 

You speak of Bacchanals arrived in Rome. 

[Quick swell of the fight. 

2 Court. Hear him, ye gods I 

1 Court. I'he battle holds mv ear. 



COMMODUS. 43 

2 Cotirt. Is't courage ? 

3 Court. No, 'tis madness. 

Com. (^Pausing from his play) You did speak, 

'I think, of dancing girls from Cyprus come, 
And noising all the town. 

1 Court. The Bacchanals ? 
Com. However called, engage you them for me 

To-morrow. 

r Court. I will have it done, my lord. 
Com. Without delay. 

\_Exit 1st Comiier. 

2 Court. 'Tis madness, I believe; 
And he will die in it. 

3 Court. We're all dead men, 
I fear. 

[ Uproar continued. 

Enter Marcia (^//^Fadilla. '^^^ 

Mar. O good my Goesar ! 

\She kneels by him. 

Com. You are pale' 

And breathless, Marcia. Jealous thou of these ? 
Shame on thee ! 

Enter ist Courtier /;/ alarm. 

2 Court. How goes the fight ? 

I Court. The guards retreat within 

The gates, which hardly to their hinges cling. 

Mar. Dear, dear, my lord, he says the gates give way. 
• Com. Thou foolish! {To Coui^tiej^s) Haste and bid 
Cleander come. 
Mar. O Cnssar, 'tis of him I wish to speak — 
Nor 1 alone. 

[^She pulls Fadilla to her side. 
This other has a word 
1 pray you, Caesar, hear. 

Cojn. {Sitting up) Death ne'er himself 
More perfect looked ! And with my father's eyes — 
So crying piteous, I would turn from them. 
But cannot. To upbraid me, comest thou ? 

Fad. O C'ciesar — brother I I have come from calm 



44 COM MODUS. 

Of cloister life, a Christian, prayerful 

For all the sinful world. To serve and save 

You I have come. 

Com. Thou ? 

Fad. Yes, if yet I can. 

Com. Speak. 

Fad. Weak am I in all but Christian love. 

I know not if my strength will hold the while 
My purpose I declare ; yet well the last 
Of life were spent if it effect to save 
Our Rome and thee. 

\She totters. He catches her. 

Com. I listen ne'er so close, 

Fadilla — Be calm — rest — and lean on me. 

Fad. My brother, all Rome, armed is at thy gates, 
And thou art lost unless — 

\Increase of noise withouf. 
Unless Oleander die. 
Hear what he has done. Hear the people cry 
You justice on the traitor. 

Com. A traitor ! 

Dost charge him so? — And with thy dying breath? 

Fad. I charge him so ; and bid the battle bear 
Me witness. Know thou now — God grant it soon 
Enough — this madness of revolt hath come 
Of wrongs by him devised to break the heart 
Of Roman patience. 

Enter Burbo, in gladiator's armor. 

Burl). Hail, good my Caesar ! 

Get thy armor on \ 

■ \Commodtts gives Fadilia to Marcia. 

Com. What, beaten ? Thou and they, 

Of men the flower ? — children trained by me ? — 
And whom I thought to set in open field 
Against a legion — e'en the Julian larks? — 
But now in flight before a headless mob ? 

Burb. {Laughing) The mob ! Tush ! Bare of breast 
and throat are they ; 
And fighting them is merely thrusting thus — 
And thus — and so '. I drip with spurted blood. 



COMMODUS. 45 

To us the mob ! But, Caesar, I do bid 
You wake to treachery. 

Cojii. To treachery ! 

Burb. The Prsefect of thy guard in camp 
His legions holds. 

Com. Let loose, immortal gods, 

And blast the base-born ingrate with thy quick 
Consuming fires ! O I remember now, 
With what ado of love, and plausible 
Fair seeming show of duty, he did come 
To me in refuge at Laurentum place, 
And pray the Prtefecture,^^-^) and I denied 
His prayer ; nor once ; then of the mob 
Inceptive he did speak — O, he'd an end 
Of mobs in Rome! — This one now thundering 
Warlike my gates outside, he'd tread in mire 
Of blood so deep 't would ne'er take root again! 
And I did sign — Fadilla, have thy will — 
i^To Burbo) Where keeps the traitor ? 

Burb. Upon the roof, my Cit^sar, triply fenced 
By guards which should be thine. 

Com. A thing for swift 

■And certain deed- — My Burbo, take thou flight 
Of arrow hence, and bring his head to me. 
Hearest thou ? Speed !— Ay- but- — would I were by 
To see his dying ! — Burbo, do thou watch. 
And note his changes —hear what last he says — 
And see if light or hard his parting be. 
Or brave or fearful — Off! — Away ! 

Mar. ( Taking Burbo'' s hand) With all its dripping, I do 
kiss thy hand 
t Com. {To courtiers) Not cowering quails, but royal 

game Death hunts 
With baying hounds to-day. Haste ! Sword and shield ! 
I'll meet him armed, and die, if die I must, 
In sort to live a braggart's boast upon 
His grinning lips. Be off — nor loiter so ! 
I thirst for blood ! 

\^A courtier runs out. Commodus turns to Fadilla. 
Alas, poor fallen one ! 
Thy ,c(aze does turn my mood to tearful grief, 



46 COMMODUS. 

And teach a love which I have Hved to this 
Unknowing — Good friends, bear her to yon couch. 

\Attendaiits obey him. He follows t/ie?7i, and stands by 
her. 
This is not dying — or was never death 
So gentle, — or 'tis meant to teach me what 
It should be. Stay — a moment ere thou go, 
And tell me I'm forgiv'n. 

Fad. For love of Christ — 

Forgiven. 

\FadiUa dies. 

Enter Burro, with Cleander's head. 

Burb. Lo, Caesar, I bring you — peace. 
Com. So ! 

\Commodus holds the head by the hair, while he exam- 
ines the face. 

Mar. My lord, a wondrous specious tongue it had. 
Thy workmen coin not silver pieces half 
So artfully as it at need did coin 
The basest lies. 

\A g?rat tumult without. Com modus tahes the head to a 
table., and setting it on the base of the neck, draws a 
chair before it, and continues his study. 

Com. For this together grew 

We statured men ? Open, eyes ! Answer, tongue I 
Tell me of that so lately life. 
Where is it now, and what, if 't is at all ? 
Can it be down, some serving quality 
In lawless current blowing with the air ? 
A breath's sweet virtue here ? Or there a blight 
Of poison ? Dost hear me ? Or did Death, 
With kindly hand, but ope a viewless door. 
And let it silent into other world, 
A better being or a w.orse ? 
I do bid thee — I, Caesar, — break the law 
Which 'gainst me speechless locks thy purple lips — 
Yes or no ! Is there another life ? 

[ Tumult without. 



COMMODUS. 47 

Mar. {^Clasping his knees) O good my lord ! my C^sar ! 
save thyself 
This favoring time. 

Com. I lifted thee above 

Thy station. Nay, I bent the stubborn world, 
And set thy foot upon it. At thy word. 
In whisper said, the millions crouching quaked. 
Now not a sign ! Go to, thou damned clod ! 
Enrich some lentil patch of teeming earth, 
Or feed a weed, or paint a hly's cup — <% 

Of uses last — My Burbo, thine it is — 
Take now, and throw it to the swine without. 
'Twill stay their grunting for the time at least. 
{To Courtier) My sword! — Stay, Burbo. Died he like a 
man ? 
Burb. Like a man, good my Caesar. 
Co77i. This one died 

Forgiving me. What man would do so much ? 

\^Exit Burbo with the head. Commodus remains by the 
couch, playing with the point of his sword, and looking 
at Fa dill a. 

Enter Courtier. 
Court. The mob is gone ! 

Com. 1 thought so. This poor dead 

One shall to lovers of her sect, (^o) that they 
May bury her with rites as they may choose. 
Marcia, do thou look to 't. 

Mar. I will, my lord. 

Com. ( To his siuord) Put up, good servant. I have yet 
a time 
'Jo riper grow. ( To courtier) Return it whence it came, 
{To Children) The Fates relent. Come, let us play again. 
To-morrow old Cybele reigns. 

[Children run to Iiini Joyously. Curtain falls- 

ScKNE 111. Street in Rome. People passing in lioliday 
garb. 

Enter Maternusc?;/^ Marcus, /// rich Pi'cetoriari imiforms^ 
and armed, helms, sicords and shields. 



48 COMMODUS. 

Mat. My Marcus, while we sat before the camp 
Awhile ago, our people passing by 
So oft saluted us the air to me 

Seemed burthened with the word, and, saying truth, 
I 'gan like it not. Mors^ Mors ! Ah, we could 
Have something chose to wakeful ears less charged 
•With warning. Marked you e'er a bee go by 
On humming vv^ing, but of its sting you thought ? 
Howbeit, 't is an error gone too far 
For 'mendment— What's the hour? 

Marc. I think the fourth. 

Mat. No, thou 'rt slow — or my patience is distort. 

[He shades his eyes, and looks upward 
I saw the heralds of the sun at dawn. 
When first they shook their lances in the sky ; 
Then came the sun himself; and as he rose, 
A single cloud of more than fleecy white, 
Asleep above me, like a ship becalmed, 
Did sudden start, and ship-like softly sail 
Away to him. Now did some god suggest 
The cloud our fortune was ? I stopped to see 
What came of it ; and as they nearer drew. 
The cloud did slowly change from white to pink, 
And then to rosy red ; a veil of flame, 
At last it hid the glorious .burning disk. 
And in a vermeil shade I wondering stood. 
An instant— then the brightness broke again. 
And upward rose the sun, and onward sailed 
The cloud— on— on until, in perfect peace. 
It passed from view adown the iiaorning sky. 
And I did cry for joy. 

\^A soldier in Pnetoriau garb goes by. 

Soldier. Mors'. 

Mat. Did you hear, 

My Marcus? 

Marc. He is for the rendezvous. 

Mat. And so, by this, I judge are all of ours. 
I fancy them on every pave in Rome, 
Toward the palace faced. Let us likewise. 

\They face about. 

Marc. Some masquers come I 



COMMODUS. 49 

Mat. Let 's wait for them to pass. 

\They draw aside, while a procession goes by shouting, 
singing, and with trumpets, drums and banners, and 
in grotesque disguises. 
Marc. Say you we fall in after them ? 
Mat. Yes — I am ready. O, ye holy gods 
Who love the brave, go with us now ! 

[Exeunt 

Scene IV. Hall of State in Imperial Palace. Throne 
in centre, curtained ri^ht and left. Guards behind cur- 
tains. 

Enter Officers, with lion's skin and club of Hercules. 

Officer. Way, way, for Caesar ! Caesar comes ! Make 
way. 

Enter boys "and girls as Cupids, and after them Officers, 
Courtiers, Gladiators, a^id Charioteers — Bur- 
bo conspicuous. After them, Commodus, in Proeto- 
rian garb, Marcia on his arm ; and with her he as- 
cends the throne, Cupids, etc. , group about them. 

Com. ( To Marcia) Shall they begin ? 
Mar. If 'tis your pleasure, good my lord. 
Com. [To officers) Bid them come. 

Enter Queen of Bacchanals ; she goes to the throne 
and kneels. 

Queen. Hail, mighty Caesar ! There was never love 
Like that of Cyprus ; we do kiss your feet. 
And give it all to you. 

'^ \^She rises, and claps her ] Lands. Music. Enter Baccha- 
nals, as Priestesses of Aphrodite, and dance. Com- 
nwdus and spectators applaud. 

Enter Maternus and Marcus. 

Mat. [Aside) O cursed tyrant ! Art thou met at last ? 
And as I prayed ? Upon thy curtained throne — 
Amidst thy guard — in lap degenerate — 
Set round with trinketry forbid to Kings 



50 COMMODUS. 

And common gods ? O happy, happy chance ! 
My Marcus, cahii thy joy, as I will mine ; 
And let us to the dais with air of ease 
To vouch us here of right habitual. 
Thy sword— be jealous of the scabbard's clasp. 
Marc. (Aside) 'Tis ready- free. 

Mat (Aside) My Marcus, mine 

the hand 
To strike the blow; and then, the freeze of fear 
Enduring — sovereign moment when the gods 
Do give the many to the cherished few I — 
Then we'll ope the gates, and call on ours, 
And show them where their oft-dreampt joyance lies — 
Enough of words ! Let's to 't ! 

Marc. * I do believe 

Him fortune-favored. 'Tis time for me 
To make a choice. Yon fellow bears him like, 
A Caesar born. He has the throne — and odds. 
I'll take to him. 

[T/ie audience applaud the Bacchanals ; at the end of 
which Ma?rus speaks to a couiiier. 

My friend, care you for King ? 
Couii. Who art thou ? 
Marc. Mors ! 

Court. Mors ! Mors ! —A stranger thou ! — 

Ho, Caesar I — Burbo ! — Here is mystery — 
Treachery — Guard, guard ! 

[The dance stops. Children and women sci^eain^— confu- 
sion — guards enter from behind the curtains, and post 
the??is elves around the throne. Coimnodus stands up. ' 
Maternus draws his sword, and tuiiis on Marcus. 
Mat. O — now is the world's 

Best hope spoiled, and Heayen all afrown, * 

And solid earth gulf-opening into 
Blackened depths ! O thou — thou traitor less 
To me than universal human kind — 
Death didst thou call ; and take it shalt thou sure — 
Aye, with god-send swift to Hell ! 

\_Stabs Ma7'cus. 
Marc. Caesar saved — 

Maternus lost \ 

[Dies. 



COMMODUS. 51 

Mat. Lost ! O, the world is lost 1 

And Hope's sweet promises ! — and martial dreams 
Of helmed war, with conquests empire-crowned — 
And O poor, poor wife 1 This the mead of all 
Thy faithfulness and love ! — But boots it naught 
So Caesar with me die ! 

\He clears space about him. 
Gladiators ! — Guards !-— Csesar ! Look— behold 
Maternus ! 

Burb. Thou Maternus ! 'Tis — 'tis so! 
My Caesar — Cccsar, 'ware, and out with sword, 
Or take you hence. This hawk is Death a-wing. 

Com. The robber ! Insolent ! Set on him all ! 
His life or yours — Slay him ! 

\Guai'ds hang back. Burbo snatcJies a sword — advances 
toward Maternus— falters. 

Bu7'b. His eyes are godlike terrible. 

Mat. I know you, Burbo — mother's youngest born ; 
And by her blood, in us the very same, 
And by my senior's right, I bid you turn. 
And that way strike with me, as she would cry 
You strike. 

\He advances — Burbo retreats. 
A cruel Roman hand did tear 
Us children helpless weeping from her arms, 
In dying vainly stretched to hold us fast ; 
And 'neath a haughty Roman foot oppressed 
Our free-born fighting father death-struck died. 
There she is — Rome, the Vast, — the Each and All, 
Imbruted into one ; and here are we, 
With ready swords and oft-tried, practised hands, 
And frenzied Hate fire-eyed trumpeting us, 
Forward both — end of him is end of her ! 
Hearest thou ? 

S^Burbo gives way. 

Burb. Back, I say, and I will be 

Your fence 'gainst all — e'en Caesar's mighty self. 

Mat. A base-grown, sodden tongue to speak me so ! 
That way a barren death ; and this way death, 
But death revent^e and glor\' sweetened. 



52 COM MODUS. 

Choose you quick — Commodus or me I 

\IIe rushes on, kills Burbo, and throws himself upon 
the guard. 
Mar. The guards give way ! O, Caesar, let us fly ! 
His look is deadly as his certain sword. 

\_She flings her arms around him. 
Com. A Caesar cannot fly from clash 
Of reddening blades. Woman, loose thy arms ! — 
Bring sword for me ! A thousand such I've slain;. 
Now this one comes in noon of fighting time 
To swell the measure o' my rugged boast. 
Give me a sword --Strike now — quick — well done there! 
Habet — hoc habet ! Up thumbs merciless ! 

Mat. O, O I I stop at heart. At last has oped 
An easy door, and life good fortune joins 
In farewell flight. 

Done for am I — but he — O doomful gods ! 
Shall he escape — of all the breathing world 
The topmost curse ? 

[ With last effort he reaches the dais. 
Late — too late — darkness comes ! 

\He falls blindly upon the step. 
O damned Caesar ! Take thou — this ! 

[Dashes his s7vord into the throne, and dies. 



Scene IV. Tableau. Night — A lonesome place — Moon- 
light discloses wife of Mat emus, weeping over his body. 
Close by, and part of the group, his children, iJie younger 
on the donkey. Solemn music. 



The End, 



COMMODUS. 53 



APPENDIX. 



(1) rage 7, 
The stoi-y of Maternus is told originally by Herodian. 
De Quikcey, Gibbon ami Crevier have versions of the story. 

De Qiiincey's is as follows: 

*' A slave of noljle qualities, and of magnificent persoi>, having lib- 
erated himself from the degredations of bondage, determined to avenge 
his own wrongs by inflicting continual teri'or upon the town and neigh- 
borhood rt-hicli had witnessed his humiliation. For ihis purpose he re- 
soi'ted to the woody recesses of the province (somewhere in the modern 
Tiaiioylvaniii,) nnd. attracting to his wild encampment as many fugi- 
tives as lie could, by degrees he succeeded in forming and training a 
veiy formidable troop of freebooters. Partly from the energy of his 
own nature, and partly from the neglect and remissness of the provincial 
magistrates, the robber captain rose from less to more, until he had 
formed a little army, equal to the task of assaulting fortified cities. In 
t'Ais stage of his adventures, he encountered and defeated several of the 
imperial ofiicers commanding large detachments of troops; and at length 
gi'ew of consequence su;iicient to draw upon himself the emperor's eye, 
and the honor of his displeasure. In high wrath and disdain at the in- 
sult ottered to his eagie-i by , till i fugitivf^ slave, Comino lus fulminated 
against him such an edict as lert him no hope of much longer escaping 
with impunity . 

Public vengeance v/as now awakened; the imperial troops were 
marching from every tjuarf.'r upon the same center; and the slave be- 
came sensible that in a vey short Sjiace of time he must be surrounded 
and destroyeil. In this deSi-erate situation he took a desperate resolu- 
tion; he assembled his troops, laid before them his plan, concerted the 
various steps for carrying it into effect, and then dismissed them as in- 
dependent wanderers, So ends the first chaiiter of the tale. 

The next opens in the passes of the Alps, whither, by various routes, 
of seven or eight hundred miles in extent, these men had threaded their 
way ill manifold disguises through the very midst of the emperor's 
rauiDs. A '•cjiMina' (o I Tii-; ni;tir-> i;'i -'antic iMiterni-jsO. in which the means 



54 COMMODUS. 

were as audacious as the purpose, the conspirators were to I'enclezvous, 
and first to recognize eachjother at the gates of Rome. From the Danube 
to the Tiber did this band of robbers severally pursue their perilous 
routes through all the dilliculties of the road and the jealousies of the 
military stations sustained b.y the mere thirst of vengeance— vengeance 
ag'aiust that mighty foe whom thej^ knew only by his proclamation 
against themselves. Everything continued to prosper; the conspirators 
met under the walls of Rome; the final details were arranged; and those 
also would have prospered bat for a ti-ifiing accident. The season was 
one of general carnival in Rome; and by the help of those disguises 
which the license of this festal time allowed, the murderers were to have 
penetrated as maskers to the emperor's retirement, when a casual W'ord 
or two awoke the siipicions of a sentinel. One of the conspirators was 
arresced; under the terror an I uncercaiaty of tiie moment he made much 
ampler aiscoveries than were expected of him; tlie other accomplicgs 
were secured; and CommodiH was delivei'c.I from the uplifted daggers 
of those who had sought him by moatlis of patient wanderings, pursued 
through all the depths of the Illryan forests, aud the difficulties of the 
Alpine passes. It is not easy to find words commensurate to the ener- 
getic hardships of a slave— who, by the way of answer and reprisal to 
an edict which consigned him to persecution and death, determines to 
cross Europe in quest of its author, though wo less a person than the 
master of the world — to seek him out in the inner recesses of his capital 
city and private palace— and tliere to lodge a daggei-iu his heart, as the 
adequate reply to the Imperial sentence of proscription against himself." 

1)10 QriN The Cmsar-s. 



Cr/iZ/rt^^'-v rendering of this stoi\v is subjoined : 

•■ * * * '^ Materuus, a private soldier, of a daring bold- 
ness a!)Ove his station, collected these bands of robbers into a little 
arniy, set open these prisons, invited the slaves to assert their freedom, 
and plundered with impunity the ricli and defenceless cities of Gaul and 
Spain. The governors of the provinces win) had long been the specta- 
tors, and perhaps the partners, of his dei)reilations, were at length, 
roused from their supine indolence by the threatening commands of the 
emperor. Maternus found that he was encompassed and foresaw that 
he must be overpowered. A great eflort of despair was his last resource. 
He ordered his followers to disperse, to pass the Alps in small parties 
and yarions disguises, and to assemble at Rome, during the licentious 
tumult of the festival of Cybele. To murder Coramodus, and to ascend 
the vacant throne, was the ambition of no vulgar robber. His measures 
were so ably concerted that his concealed troops already filled the 
streets of Rome. The envy of an aceomplice discovered and ruined this 
singular enterprise, in the moment when it was ripe for execution." 

GiBB. Jiouie. Chapter III. 



COMMODUS. 5 5 

The following is from Crevier: 

" Mateinus, a common soldier and deserter, but of a determined dis- 
position to undertake anything, asstmbled at first some deserters like 
himself, with whom lie carried on in Gaul the trade of a roboer; their 
success brought them new associates; his gang increased gradually, and 
became at last an army. There was a necessity of making a regular 
war against them, and Niger, who afterwards disputed the empire with 
Severus, was employed to encounter so despicable an enemy, and he ac- 
quitted himself like a brave and able officer. Meantime Maternus, in 
Spite of the losses he had sufiered, augmented his forces so far as to form 
a design of killiugCommodus, and to make himself emperor in his room. 

"lie perceived that he could not succeed in such a design, if he 
showed himself openly, and as his art was equal to his courage, he 
formed an admirable plan; he divided his troops and ordered them to 
go into Italy and to liome, in small parties, and went there himself; his 
scheme was to avail himself of the Cybeline festival, which was eelebra- 
ting at Rome with great pomp, and during which every one had the lib- 
erty of being disguised; he therefore resolved to take for himself and 
his followers the aress and armor of the emperoi's guards, to mix with 
them in akiadof a solemn procession where Commodus was present, to 
come near his person and to murder him. 

"The project contained nothing but what was very practicable; but 
some of tho-ie who first enteredinto it conceived a jealousy of their leader. 
They had hitherto considered themselves almost his equals, and could 
not think of making him their master; they discovered the plot. Mater- 
nus was seized, with a great number of his accomplices, and they were 
all punished with death." 

Ckevier's IRst. Rom. Emp. Book xxi. 



(2) Page 9. 

***** The Nones of April is CybeWs day. The 

Hilaria of Cyhele., better known as the Megalesia, began on the Nones of 
Avril; that is to say, on the fifth day of that month. 

There is reason to believe that the modern Carnival had its origin in 
the celebration of the rites accorded to Cybele; who was the personifica- 
tion of the Earth, or in mythological style, its Goddess. 

DwiGHT's Class Die. 



(3) Page 1% 
Arms Frcetorian. The imperial body guard was habitually detailed 
from tlic Pnvtorian coh'^rts encamped near the city. Their equipments 
were superlatively splendid. 

(KKVIEK. &c. 



56 COM MODUS. 



ACT IL 

(4) J' age U. 

POMPEiANUS— a uoble Romau Senator, wko, with Pertinax, had been 
au especial friend to Aurelius, the father of Commodas. 

AXTISTHEUS BURRHUS and Arrius ANTONINUS— Senators and rela- 
tions of Commodns — the former a brother-in-law. They were men of 
excellent charactei'. Both of them fell victims to Oleander. 

Ihid. 

(5) raze J4. 

COMMODUS— It is difticult to believe this man sane. The inci«1ents 
following are collated from .John Mill's translation ofCrevier's History 
of the Itoman Emperors. If Ave cau suppose the question of Commo- 
dus' sanity referred to a jury, and such circumstances submitted to 
them as evidence, with all the light of modern intelligence upon the 
subject, there would not be much room for disagreement. Thus — 

He immersed himself in most shocking debaucheries. His seraglio 
contained six hundred prostitutes of both sexes. His sister did not escape 
his- unnatural passion. 

His appetite for blood showed itself earlj^ He had a pleasure in 
killing victims with his own hands. He dressed himself for the purpose 
like an executioner. He fought with gladiators. In such combats he 
used a sword shai-pened, while they had nothing but foils, with leaden 
points. 

During- the administration of Pereuuis, his first favorite, he shut 
himself up in his palace, dividing liis time between debaucheiw and com- 
bats with gladiators and beasts. He killed four sea-horses at once, two 
elephants in two days, a rhinoceros and a giraffe: and by such exploits 
fancied himself the rival of Hercules and Ca&sar. 

Actors of farces and obscene pantomines governed him; Avhile his 
hatred of the virtuous friends of his own father carried him to tlie point 
of murder several times repeated. 

He buried the children of Avidins Oassius alive. 

In his murders, when he wanted to prevent too g-reat noise, he em- 
l)loyed poisons. 

He condemned to the beasts those who were witty about him. To 
this punishment he sent a p'nrty for i-eadiug Suetonius' Life of Caligula. 

It he knew. any one wiio declared he was weary of life, he took him 
at his word, and threw him down a precipice. 

He diverted himself cutting off with a razor the noses and ears of 
his household, whom he obliged to sit down, as if he intended to shave 
them . 



COMMODUS. 57 

He affected the surgeon, and, pretending to let blood, slashed the 
arnid, and bled his victims to death. 

He affected to be a rival of Hercules, and, like that hero, he fought 
vpith giants ami monsters, For this he assembled all those in Rome who 
had lost the use of their legs and caused them to be wrapt up with cloths 
and linens below the knees, and of such length as to make them resemble 
the tails of dragons. He gave them sponges, instead of stones, for arms; 
then rushing upon them, he killed them all with a club. 

He had a passion for making a show of himself; driving chariots, as 
well as fighting gladiatois and beasts. 

He passed time in gladiator schools; went with them; appeared with 
them in the arena; fought and required the applause of the people and 
Senate. The gravest Senators had no choice but to applaud. He exact- 
ed his salary as a gladiator, charging a higher price. 

Every tiigtie he did anything mean oi- cruel, or acted as a gladiator or 
master of a debauch, he had it registered in the journals of the city. 

He fought three hundred and sixty -five times while his father was 
alive, and seven hundre'l and thirty-five times afterwards; and so he 
gained one thousand victories — such as they were. 

Nero raised a colossus for himself, which Vespasian afterwards con- 
secrated to the Sun. Thio Commodus appropriated, by taking off its 
head, and putting his own in its place. On the base he ordered the in- 
scription— Conqueror of a Thousand Gladiators. 

He devoted himself to I^^is, and celebrated rites with the priests^ 
Like them, he shaved his head. He helped carry the ima^-e oi AnuMs. 
In the ceremony he struck the litter which supported the statue, so that 
the mouth and teeth of the god-dog knocked the ministers on their shaven 
heads. 

He taxed the wives and children of Roman Senators two pieces of 
gold pel- head. 

Once, wanting money, he feigned to go to Africa; obtained large 
sums for the purpose, and spent them in a debauch; pretending the peo- 
ple of Rome could not spare him. 

He frequently appeared as Hercules, covered with a lion's skin, and 
with a club in his hand. Sometimes he had these marks of divinity car- 
ried before him. When not at the games, he had them placed upon the 
throne appointed for him. 

Before the door of the Senate he set uo a statue in a threatening at- 
titude, holding a bow bent, and pointed at the Senate. 

He frequently showed himself in the dress of a woman. 

I'e was the most consummate archer of his day,— and withal the most 
beautiful man. 

(6) Page n. 

lender CoinmoiUis, Rome was dreadfully ravaged by famine, plague, 
and violent fires. 

The famine did not result from barrc lines,'- of earth, but the wicked- 
ness of men. 



58 COMMODUS. 



The plague was most violent in the city. The daily mortality aver- 
aged tw^o thousand cases. Even beasts suft'eied from the contagion. 

Cbevier. Hist. &c. 



(7) Page 18. 

Oleander— a Phrygian by birth. Ho was sold as a slave in his 
own counti-y, and brought to Rome to do the meanest offices. 

In the palace he became the emperor's slave, and was agreeable to 
Commodus when a child, by a liiieness in their dispositions: this begin- 
iiag he cherished. After his father's death, Commodus gave him his 
freedom, and appointed him first chamberlain. He also gave him for 
wife his concubine, DemostraUa. 

Oleander was of mean soul, and abused his power. He put every- 
thing to sale, places of Senators, command of armies, government of 
provinces and intendeucies; for all of winch he was well paid. Merit 
and birth were of no account with him. To increase his gains he multi- 
plied offices, and named twenty-five consuls in one year. He had no le- 
gard for laws ®r precedents. Money bought absolution for crimes, and 
release from judgments, sometimes with additional dignities. No citizen 
was secure of life or fortune, if he had a rich enemy. Condemnation to 
banishment, death, punishment of all kinds, confiscations, deprivation 
of burial, were subjects of barter, and nothing thought of but the price. 

By his cruel and abominable trafic, Oleander amassed immense 
wealth; and to secure his gains he shared them with the emperor's con- 
cubines, and even the emperor's self. 

He was magnificenfe in the use of his riches. He built hot baths in 
Rome, which he called Oommodian Baths 

Ckeviek. Il'ist.'d-C, 

(8) Page 22. 

Marcia— a concubine who, after having been kept by Quadratus, a 
Senator, passed into the imperial palace, and maintained herself in 
favor to the death of Commodus, in which she ultimately had a hand. 

(Jrevier. Hist. &c. 



ACT III. 

(9) Page 29, 

Tlie ragout of Verus—L,. Ceronius Commodus— called Verus. He was 
the son by adoption of Titus Antoninus, the successor of Adrian, hut died 
before coming to the throne. 

This man's habits give a fine idea of the effeminancy of the times. 
Thus, he was dressed with lilie8;|his body was perfumed with aromatics; 



COMMODUS. 59 

his table and table seats were covered with lilies and roses; he dressed 
his young slaves like cupids; he pxit wangs to his couriers, and named 
them after the winds. 

Crevibr. Hist. <&:c . 

(10) Page 30. 

The salaam referred to is that of one distant from the person saluted 
— really but a half salaam. The individual, sitting or standing erect, 
bends forward until his body is parallel with the ground; then he lifts 
his arms until his hands meet. Angers extended, palms down, in front of 
his head. The full salaam or prostration is thus typified. 



(11) Page 80. 

When a gladiator was wounded, the people in their seats called out 
Habet or Hoc habet—H.e has it! The vanquished lowered his arms in token 
of submission. His fate, however, depended upon the spectators, who 
pressed dow7i their thumbs if they wished him saved, but up if they 
wished him killed. 

Smith. Die. of GreeJc cmd Mom,. Antiq. 



(12) Page 31. 

Kow the Corybantes. The Corybarites were priests of Cybele, 
called also Galli. In the celebration of their festivals, they heat their 
cymbals and behaved as if delirious. 

Lempeiere's Class. Die. 



The celebration of Cybele was exceedingly tumultuous, particularly 
on the part of the priests called GorybanteHOv Galli, and of the chief one, 
ArciiigalluSs They went abroad with clamorous music and singing, act- 
ing like madmen, and filling the air with mingled noise of shrieks, 
bowlings, drums, tabrets, bucklers and spears 

ESCHENBERG Man. Clan* Lit. 

(13) Page 34. 

lu the social l)anquets, held at evening, it was customery among 
Romans to choose a Master of the Feast. He seems to have been chosen by 
a throw of dice. {Hor. Od. II. 7. 25.) To his direction everything con- 
nected with the banquet was submitted; particularly all that related to 
drinking, and the«ocial intercourse of the occasion. 

It was also customary to drink healths; the memory of the gods and 
heroes being usually honored in the first place.' 

Not only after the meal, but also during it, between the different 
courses an(i dishes, social games oi' plays were practiced. 

ESCH. Man. Clas». Lit. 



60 COMMODUS. 



ACT IV. 

(14) Page 37. 

Upon the breaking out of the plague in Rome, Commodus retired to 
Laurentum, an agreeable coiintr}"- seat, perfumed with laurel groves. 

Crevier Hist. Rom. Emp. 

(15) Page 38. 

Crispina Wife of Commodus. Being taken in adultery, she was 

transported to the island of Capri, and put to death by order of Commo- 
dus. 

Creyier, Ihid. 

(16) Page 40. 

Commodus seems to have really believed himself a god. In 
course of the delusion he sometimes joined the qualities of Mercury to 
tliose of Hercules; imitating the Hermeerates commonlj^ plac d in the 
palcstrte. 

Crevier. Ihid^ 
The Hernieerat'?s (or Hermeraclce) were statues with the head of Her- 
cules upon a square base, the base representing Mercury. 

Anthon. Die, Greek and Rom. Antiq. 



ACT V. 

(17) Page 42. 

A famine was the cause of the insurrection which resulted in Clean - 
der'sfall. ^^^ 

Crevier. Hist. Rom. Emp. 

To the same point Gibbon ssixs— 

* * * * * Pestilence and famine contributed to fill up 
the measure of the calamities of Rome. The first could only be impu- 
ted to the just indignation of the gods; but a monopoly of corn support- 
ed by the riches and power of the minister (Oleander} was considered as 
the immediate cause of the second. The popular discontent, after it had 
long circulated in whispers, broke out in the assembled circus. The 
people quitted their favorite amusements for the more delicious pleasure 
of revenge, rushed in crowds toward a palace in the suburbs, one of the 
imperial retirements, and demanded, with clamors, the head of the pub- 
lic enemy. * * * * ■phe tumult became a regular engage- 
ment, and threatened a genera! massacre. The Prtctorians at length 



COMMODUSo 61 

gave way, oppressed with numbers; and the tide of popular fury return- 
ed with re-doubled violence against the gates of the palace where Corn- 
modus lay, dissolved in luxury, and alone unconscious of the civil war. 

Gtbbom. Chapt. IV. 

(18) Page 43. 

* * * * * He {CoiiDiwdus) would have perished in this 
supine security, had not two women, his eldest sister {Fadilla) and Mar- 
cia, the most favored of his concubines, ventured to break into his pies- 
ence. Bathed in tears, and with dishevelled hair, they threw themselves 
at his feet; and with all the passing eloquence of fear, discovered to the 
affrighted emperor the crimes of the minister, the rage of the people, 
and the impending ruin, which, in a few minutes would have burst over 
his palace and person. Commodus started from his dream of pleasure 
and commanded that the head of Oleander should be thrown out to the 
people. The desired spectacle instantly appeased the tumult. 

GlBBOX. Chapt. /r, 

(19) Page 45. 

Prmfect of tlie PrcBtorians — literally General of the Prmtoriain Legiona. 

Cleander degraded the office to pave the way to it himself. He made 
and unmade such Prefects at his i)leasure ; he had one for five days, 
and another for .-ix hours. At last lie obtained the place himself, 

CUEVIER. HiRt. Bo III. Eiiiji. 

(20) Page 47. 
Tlie Christians are said to have enjoyed great peace under Commo- 
diis, credit for whicli has been given to Marcia. 

Crkviek. JhiJ. 



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